Breathing bags

ABSTRACT

A single strip of flexible and impervious material is folded lengthwise upon itself to form a double-thickness member, which is provided midway between its ends with a recess extending inwardly from one edge. The edges of the strip and substantially all of the area between the recess and the other edge of said member are sealed together so that two longitudinally spaced breathing bags are formed that are integrally connected at their inner ends by a band adapted to extend around the back of the neck to suspend the bags over the chest. Each bag has an opening therein near its outer or lower end.

United States Patent Wise 5] Feb. 1, 1972 [54] BREATHING BAGS 3,370,5852/1968 O'Neill ..l28/142.2 [72] Inventon Layton A wise, Washington Pa;3,402,7ll 9/1968 Emerson ..l28/ 142.2 [73] Assignee: Mine SafetyAppliances Company, Pitt- Primary Examiner-Richard Gaudet b rgh, PAssistant Examiner-J. 8. Mitchell Filed Feb 19 1970 Attorney-Brown,Murray, Flick and Peckham [2]] Appl. No.: 12,202 ABSTRACT A single stripof flexible and impervious material is folded 521 u.s.c1 ..12s/202lengthwise "P itself to form a double-thickness member [51] Int. Cl...A62b 7/00 which is provided midway between its ends with a recess 581Field of Search ..l28/202 142.2 203 191 142 ending inwardly fwm edge Theedges 0f striP and 128/147 423 1425445 6 substantially all of the areabetween the recess and the other edge of said member are sealed togetherso that two longitudinally spaced breathing bags are fonned that areintegrally 56 connected at their inner ends by a band adapted to extendl 1 References cued around the back of the neck to suspend the bags overthe UNITED STATES PATENTS chest. Each bag has an opening therein nearits outer or lower end. 2,852,023 9/1958 Hamilton et al. ..128/2032,906,262 9/1959 Braunstein 128/ 142.2 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures isillustrated in.

FIG, 3 is a front view of breathing apparatus, including the.

bags, in operative position.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, a rectangular strip of flexiblematerial that is impervious to air and of the requiredlength and widthis cut to provide a blank l having an inwardly extending recess 2 ineach side midway between its ends. Aluminized rubber is the preferredmaterial. The two recesses are the same size and preferably have curvedinner ends. The blank is provided near its opposite ends with a pair ofsmall openings 3, through which air can be breathed into and out of thebags that are to be formed. These two openings preferably are on thelongitudinal centerline 4 of the blank. A third opening 5 is formed inthe blank at one side of the centerline, between one end of the blankand the recesses. This opening is for a pressure relief valve.

After the strip has been cut to provide the blank just described, it isfolded lengthwise upon itself along its centerline so that adouble-thickness member 7 is produced that is half as wide as the blank,as shown in FIG. 2. The two recesses 2 register with each other to forma single recess. The edges of the blank and the area between the recessand the fold are sealed together by a suitable adhesive 8 or cement.This produces two longitudinally spaced rectangular bags 9 integrallyconnected by a band 10 at the inner end of recess 2. Before the blank isfolded, tubular fittings 11 are mounted in openings 3, and a reliefvalve 12 is mounted in opening 5. If desired, the central recess in thedouble-thickness member 7 could be formed after the blank has beenfolded and its two layers have been bonded together across their centralarea.

After the bags have been formed, their folded edges are swung towardeach other in the planes of the bags into substantially parallelrelation, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2 and as shown in FIG. 3.The length of band 10 that connects the two bags is great enough topermit it to extend around the back of the neck of a person wearing thebags, with the two bags hanging down over his chest. As shown in FIG. 3,the fittings 11 at the lower ends of the bags are connected to openingsin the opposite sides of the lower end of an upright air purifying andoxygen generating canister 14 mounted in the back section 15 of arectangular case by means of screws 16. The canister is provided with aninlet-outlet port in its upper end, to which a flexible breathing hose17 is attached. Until this apparatus is used, the breathing bags and thehose are folded inside the case, which has a removable cover (not shown)and which is sealed. When the cover is removed and the hose and bags arereleased, the wearer inserts his head through the space between the bagsabove the canister and positions the connecting band 10 against the backof his neck, with the smooth surface bags hanging down over his chestand supporting the canister and back section of the case.

I claim:

1. A pair of longitudinally spaced breathing bags comprising a singlestrip of flexible impervious material folded lengthwise upon itself toform a double-thickness member, said member being provided midwaybetween its ends with a recess extending inwardly from one edge thereof,and an adhesive cementing together the edges of the strip andsubstantially all of the area between said recess and the other edge ofsaid member, whereby two bags are formed that are integrally connectedat their inner ends by a band adapted to extend around the back of theneck and suspend the bags against the chest, each bag having an openingtherein near its outer end. I

. 2. pair of breathing bags according to claim 1, in which said recessextends inwardly from the edges of said strip, and the folds of thesuspended bags are located adjacent each other.

3. A pair of breathing bags according to claim 2, in which said openingsare located along said other edge of said member in positions to faceeach other when the bags are suspended against the chest of the user.

4. In breathing apparatus, a pair of substantially vertical laterallyspaced rectangular breathing bags provided near their lower ends withopenings facing each other, and a double-layer band integrally connectedto the upper inner corner portions of the bags and adapted to extendaround the back of the neck to suspend the bags over the chest of theuser, the bags and band being formed from a single strip of flexibleimpervious material folded lengthwise upon itself to form adouble-thickness member, said member being provided midway between itsends with a recess extending inwardly from one edge thereof to form saidband, the edges of the strip and the layers of said band being cementedtogether.

5. In breathing apparatus according to claim 4, said recess extendinginwardly from the edges of said strip, and the folds of the bags beinglocated adjacent each other.

6. In breathing apparatus according to claim 4, an air-purifyingcanister disposed between said bags, and means connecting said bagopenings with the canister and supporting it from the bags.

1. A pair of longitudinally spaced breathing bags comprising a single strip of flexible impervious material folded lengthwise upon itself to form a double-thickness member, said member being provided midway between its ends with a recess extending inwardly from one edge thereof, and an adhesive cementing together the edges of the strip and substantially all of the area between said recess and the other edge of said member, whereby two bags are formed that are integrally connected at their inner ends by a band adapted to extend around the back of the neck and suspend the bags against the chest, each bag having an opening therein near its outer end.
 2. A pair of breathing bags according to claim 1, in which said recess extends inwardly from the edges of said strip, and the folds of the suspended bags are located adjacent each other.
 3. A pair of breathing bags according to claim 2, in which said openings are located along said other edge of said member in positions to face each other when the bags are suspended against the chest of the user.
 4. In breathing apparatus, a pair of substantially vertical laterally spaced rectangular breathing bags provided near their lower ends with openings facing each other, and a double-layer band integrally connected to the upper inner corner portions of the bags and adapted to extend around the back of the neck to suspend the bags over the chest of the user, the bags and band being formed from a single strip of flexible impervious material folded lengthwise upon itself to form a double-thickness member, said member being provided midway between its ends with a recess extending inwardly from one edge thereof to form said band, the edges of the strip and the layers of said band being cemented together.
 5. In breathing apparatus according to claim 4, said recess extending inwardly from the edges of said strip, and the folds of the bags being located adjacent each other.
 6. In breathing apparatus according to claim 4, an air-purifying canister disposed between said bags, and means connecting said bag openings with the canister and supporting it from the bags. 